Go Outdoors customers complain about slow deliveries

We've seen scores of tweets from customers of Go Outdoors, which sells a range of outdoor pursuit goods such as tents, walking boots and fishing equipment, who have taken to social media to vent their anger with the store in the last couple of weeks.

Go Outdoors has so far not given us information on what is causing the problems, but earlier this week, the company's phone lines warned it was making changes to its "online systems" and that this is causing delivery problems.

An automated message on Go Outdoors' customer service number now says: "If your call is regarding a recent order, please be aware we are currently experiencing high demand. This means your order may be taking longer than usual to reach you."

The message also says it is receiving an "exceptionally high volume" of calls, and when we tried to call five times this morning, on each occasion we were told to try again later at the end of the automated message.

See our Failed Delivery and Consumer Rights guides for more information.

'To say I'm not happy is an understatement'

Several customers have contacted MoneySavingExpert.com about their problems with the retailer in the past week.

One, Beccy, told us she placed a £190 online order for a tent, a chair and two mobile kitchen units on Tuesday 6 August, and paid extra for next-day delivery because she needed the items the following day. She then heard nothing for four days, until the company emailed saying it couldn't deliver one of the kitchen units, which cost £35, and would be refunding her.

The following day, the other kitchen unit was delivered, but as of Monday 19 August she'd heard nothing about the tent and chair.

She said: "To say I'm not happy is an understatement."

Another customer, Amanda, finally had her order refunded this weekend after more than a week of issues. She said: "We ordered a BBQ and paid for next-day delivery. A week went by and the courier kept stating they hadn't received the item."

A third, Duncan, told us: "I was going on a camping trip with my wife and three kids leaving last Monday. I ordered two bed chairs to be delivered to their Coatbridge store the next day, Sunday. We went to the store, they were not there. They couldn't advise when they'd be there. So we drove to another supplier and got them at the same price – £150."

Some other complaints can be seen below:

If you've had problems, please let us know via news@moneysavingexpert.com, though unfortunately we cannot always respond to individual emails.

I'm waiting for a delivery – what can I do?

Generally, if you're buying online and the seller specifies a certain delivery date but your order wasn't delivered on time, you've a right to a full refund. If a date isn't specified at all, then delivery should be within 30 days.

If you don't want your items any longer, you could try cancelling your order by:

• Phone or email. Call customer services on 0330 008 1555 (though we struggled to get through) or email at enquiries@gooutdoors.co.uk.

• Online. Complete the online form on its website.

If you're unhappy with how Go Outdoors has dealt with your order, you can try complaining to it using the contact details above.

You could also try going direct to your card provider to get money back if your items haven't been delivered:

• Paid £100+ on your credit card? Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, you can often get a refund from your credit card provider if you purchase an item on your card and something goes wrong – such as non-delivery or faults. Usually an individual item has to cost over £100 for this to work though. See our Section 75 guide for full help and template letters.

• Paid on a debit card, or spent less than £100 on a credit card? Chargeback is a customer service promise. It's not a legal obligation, so banks can't be forced to pay out. But under this lesser-known scheme, you can try to claim if you made a credit card purchase worth under £100 or a debit or prepaid card purchase of any value.

  Chargeback claims must usually be put in within 120 days of making a purchase. It's worth noting that under chargeback you receive a refund from your bank and it later claims the money back from the company itself.

  Companies have 45 days to challenge the claim and if they do so successfully, your bank could 'claw back' the refund – so if you get a refund via chargeback, Go Outdoors could then claw back the money when it actually pays you the refund. See our Chargeback guide for full info.

If you've bought an item via PayPal and it hasn't been delivered, you can also try getting your cash back via its resolution centre.

What does Go Outdoors say?

At the moment, it's unclear exactly what is causing Go Outdoors' issues. We've tried contacting its press team, but as with its customer service phone numbers, we've been met with an automated message.

Earlier this week, the message read: "We are currently making changes to our online systems, which means deliveries are taking longer than usual.

"We are working around the clock to minimise any disruption and to get service back to normal."

It now appears to have been switched to the same message we got when we called the customer service number.

We've also tried messaging it on Twitter and received no response.

JD Sports, which owns Go Outdoors, said it had nothing to add to the automated message beyond saying: "If customers have any further concerns, then they may contact the customer care team on the following telephone number: 0330 008 1555."